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Lafayette Hornets
CROSS CITY — Lafayette’s defense lived up to its billing in the season opener Friday night.
Expected to be a strength, the Hornets' defense was that and more at Dixie County, scoring Lafayette's lone touchdown in a 7-6 win. The LHS defense and special teams also delivered a pair of plays late to secure the triumph.
“We're going to hang our hat on our defense and last night was indicative of that,” Lafayette coach Marcus Edwards said Saturday. “We told our guys we needed one more play. Don't worry about the play after that, just give us one more play. Then when that play was done, give us one more play. They came down to that a couple times.
“The last couple minutes they really stepped up and showed why we built our foundation on our defense.”
In the first half, LHS senior linebacker Jalen Hill tackled a Dixie ball carrier in the end zone, forcing a fumble that the Hornets recovered for the game's first score. Edwards said either Hill or Amin Jones came up with the loose ball for the touchdown.
That unit then made sure that score was enough, denying the Bears the rest of the way.
Recovering a muffed punt, Dixie took over at the LHS 30 midway through the fourth and then capitalized, driving into the LHS red zone.
After the Hornets originally got a stop on 4th-and-goal, a penalty gave Dixie new life which led to a potential game-tying touchdown with two minutes left. However, the Bears went for two and were stopped at the 1.
Edwards said it was a textbook defensive play that saved the lead.
“Everybody did their job and fit their gap and we got a stop, a couple stops,” he said.
The Hornets then recovered an onside kick but were unable to run out the clock, turning it back over to the Bears with 59 seconds left.
After Dixie hit a long pass down to the LHS 3, Jamarcus Smith came through with the final play of the night, rushing off the edge to block the Bears' game-winning field goal try.
“We always send a guy off the edge,” Edwards added. “I guess they never blocked out on the left edge and he came pretty clean.”
The defensive exploits were needed, Edwards said, because Lafayette's offense struggled.
“Our offense was pretty anemic,” he said. “As offensive coordinator, that's a hard pill to swallow.”
UP NEXT
Lafayette hosts Taylor County at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Dale Walker Field. The Bulldogs are 0-1 after falling 19-13 to Fort White on Saturday.